An American Indian-ownedcompany thatgot its foot in the federalcontracting door eight years agowith a $40,000 subcontract hascrossed a significant revenuethreshold. Two recent JusticeDepartment awards worth acombined $20 million havebrought Master Key Consulting'stotal federal government work tomore than $100 million sincethe company was established in2000.

The company, based inBethesda, Md., is the third businessfounded by JonathanWilber, "and the first one thatwas successful," he said.

Wilber is one of 8,000 membersof the Menominee tribe,which once occupied more than10 million acres in what is nowWisconsin and upper Michigan.

"We're the only indigenous tribe,"he said. "We've been there since therewas land there to inhabit."

Before coming to Washington, Wilberworked as an administrator at theMenominee reservation's substanceabuse center. He also has been aninstructor and finance manager at theCollege of Menominee Nation, chairmanof the board of the tribal casino, andhuman resources director for the tribalgovernment.

He traces Master Key's success to itsfirst award, a subcontract with theJustice Department's Office of JusticePrograms. The contract called for developingtraining materials for the department'sgrants management system.

"It's really about convincing them thatyou can do it, convincing them that youhave a track record, one that's based onintegrity, values and an ability to get thejob done," he added.

Convincing Justice was not difficult,he said, because the contract called forsupplying technical and managementresources, one of thecompany's strengths. MasterKey's first competitive contractswere more difficult to win, hesaid. "But being on the groundand having the opportunity tobuild those relationships andthat credibility with the governmentclient made it somewhateasier."

Between 2002 and 2005,Master Key's revenue rose from$1.39 million to $16.3 million.

RESTRUCTURE FOR SUCCESS

By 2006, "we were really on thecusp of going from a small smallcompany to a big small company,and we looked at our internalprocesses and how we weredoing our work," Wilber said. Asa result, he bought out his partnerand realigned the company'sinfrastructure.

To handle the growing volumeof work, Master Key hascreated three divisions, each with a distinctfocus: Government Solutions overseesthe federal sector; InterActive,based at the company's office in St.Louis, is responsible for Master Key'scommercial work in interactive mediamarketing applications; and InnerSightprovides online career aptitude testingand other services for tribal colleges,historically black colleges and universities,and individuals.

The company has grown to more than140 employees in 11 states, makingMaster Key the largest AmericanIndian-owned company in Marylandand the 21st largest in the country. "Now we have contracts totaling more than$100 million and we're in nine federalagencies, seven states and the District ofColumbia," he said.

Wilber's plans include reaching$50 million in annual revenue by 2010.Another goal is ending the company'sreliance on its 8(a) American Indianstatus before it loses the classification in2011. Wilber said he is positioningMaster Key to graduate through revenuegrowth and compete soon on theopen market.

"We use [8(a) status] to win contractslike any other company does," he said."But we've never relied on that solely.The last two wins that we've had with[Justice] were full-and-open competitionswhere we competed with IBM,Unisys, General Dynamics and SAIChead-to-head, and we won. That's somethingI'm very proud of."

In August, Master Key won a five-yearcontract worth more than $16.9 millionto provide information technology managementservices to the Office of JusticePrograms.

One month later, the company won a$3.7 million contract to provide trainingand support services to Justice's Office ofAudit, Assessment and Management,which monitors how grants are awardedand spent and whether they meet federalregulations. The contract expandedthe company's services into another area.

"It's training federal users on the grantsmanagement system and the processesthe office uses to award their grants,"Wilber said.

Master Key also provides services toJustice's chief information officer,Bureau of Justice Assistance and Officeof Juvenile Justice and DelinquencyPrevention. In addition, the companyhas had contracts with theEnvironmental Protection Agency,Bureau of Indian Affairs, and theEducation, Health and Human Services,and Homeland Security departments.

SUPPORT FOR THE HOME FRONT

The company also works with agenciesand organizations that serve AmericanIndians, tribal colleges and governments,including Wilber's ownMenominee tribe.

When the tribe's CommunityResource Center at Keshena, Wis., neededto update and expand its database ofparticipants in its public assistance andjob training programs, it turned toMaster Key, said Ann Marie Johnson,director of the center. There were about40 clients in the various job training categoriesand another 40 or so families inthe Temporary Assistance for NeedyFamilies (TANF) program, whichtotaled about 160 people, she said.

Master Key developed and installedthe new program last year for less than$60,000, a significant sum for the tribe.

"The No. 1 thing that you need in tribalstates is accountability, and I know that[Wilber] wanted to build a product thatwould help tribes do that," Johnson said.

Tribal members can also access housingand treatment center information,Food Stamp eligibility requirements,and information on obtaining medicalassistance. "Not only are they qualifyingfor these two programs ? the TANFand job training program ? they arealso more than likely looking at the eligibilitycriteria for Food Stamps becauseif they qualify in that program, theyautomatically qualify in those other programs,"Johnson said.

The database was built onto the frontend of the center's existing software,which did not track intake documents,referrals, grants or funding data."What Jon's program does is it tracks[the supporting documents], creates anaudit trail and automatically computesincome," she said.

The program also gathers much ofthe intake information that job counselorsneed to have when assessing andadvising their clients and it creates atraining record, she added. Previously,that information was recorded by hand.For now, the data is collected at computerterminals at the center.

"Eventually, we'll be able to send applicationsvia secured e-mail to the participatinghousing, and they can do theireligibility right there," she said. "Also,we're trying to market it at other nationaljob training tribal conferences."

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